Staithes at Night
I’m a great admirer of John Freeman who is an artist based in the Whitby area, North Yorkshire. I have a number of his pictures in my house and the night scenes are atmospheric and in some of a time gone by. When I saw his picture of Staithes by Night, which is a small fishing village of the northeast coast, I thought it might make a good carving and it would be able to explore the idea of carving a night scene if the wood was suitable.
I had my brother take some photos when he was in the village one day and used John’s picture as a base for the carving. My apologies to most of the residents of Staithes especially those on the south bank of the river for the unlicenced rebuilding of some of the buildings as wood doesn’t always agree to stick to current planning laws. As bits broke off some remodelling was necessary and Staithes in my carving is a smokeless zone as all the chimney pots broke off and the task off resticking them would have been a tedious one. The carving was done on a piece of walnut which was lovely to carve (all but the chimney pots) that I saved from being a thick coffee table some years ago. The cliff in the middle was a piece of burr walnut that I transferred into the carving for more effect, and the carving has been highlighted with a modicum of pyrography and yellow watercolour. One idea was to drill out all the lite windows and place a LED light behind, but a step too far I think. it was finished in french polish and warm beeswax/turps mix.
My thanks to John Freeman for his inspirational artwork, long may his brushes keep working and his paint pots stay moist. He has a studio shop in Whitby which I recommend anyone visiting the area to attend.